Storage and preservation of mushroom spawn plays a different purpose and significance. The purpose of preserving mushroom spawn is to prevent the contamination, slow down the metabolism and ageing of mushroom spawn, and maintain its alive and pure culture status so that it is always in available physiological situation.
Substrate of spawn differs from mushroom to mushroom, thus storage condition and guarantee period are also distrinct. However, their basic conditions for storage are alike. Anyway, attention should be paid to the following 5 elements by growers.
1. Environmental hygiene: Storage place for mushroom spawn should be dry, clean and free from unclean areas or dust field such as lime and cement plant.
2. Environmental humidity and ventilation: Excessive humidity should be eliminated in storage place of mushroom spawn, in addition, good ventilation should be guaranteed so as to take away a large amount of moisture produced during the breathing process of spawn. And, be sure to maintain suitable relative air humidity so as to avert the elimination.
3. Dark area: Light accelerates the aging of mycelia while it stimulates the formation of sporocarps, the formation of sporocarps consumes a large amount of nutrients of spawn, hence mushroom spawn should be stored in dark place.
4. Moderate dispersion: During the storage period, mushroom spawn is still in metabolic status, its degree of activity is mainly determined by the temperature of storage place. When spawns are closely stacked up, metabolic heat slowly releases while moisture produced during the metabolic process is hardly expelled, which plays a negative effect on maintaining the quality of mushroom spawn.
5. Reduce the times of “in and out”: Massive flow of people in storage place of mushroom spawn results in a rise of temperature, and an increase in suspended matter in the air, which goes against with the depollution. Therefore, number of people coming in and out of the place should be controlled.